Friday, 4 December 2009

TaxPayers' Alliance Bulletin - 4th December 2009
 
Public Sector Rich List 2009 Out Today
 
Today sees the release of our hotly anticipated Public Sector Rich List, the fourth annual list in the series. Every year since we produced the first Rich List in 2006, the number of public sector staff earning over £150,000 has risen, and their average pay and perks has jumped. And of course this year the list features a golden dusting of bankers, to join the quangocrats, senior public executives and other fat cats.
 
With the recession still hammering ordinary people, and a crisis in the public finances, the Public Sector Rich List is even more relevant than before. Encouragingly, our campaign against excessive pay and perks is starting to produce some results. All political parties are now publicly committed to tackling the problem of excessive pay for senior public sector staff. Harriet Harman recently blocked a £185,000 salary for the new Chief Executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. George Osborne has said that “anyone who wishes to pay a public servant more than the Prime Minister will have to put it before the Chancellor”.  Vince Cable has said that “pay restraint should start at the top”. We are going continuing to press for this rhetoric to be matched with a serious crack down on inflated pay at the top of the public sector and rewards for failure. We are demanding a new era of transparency, accountability and restraint, and we can achieve that if we keep up the pressure.
 
 
Here are some of the key findings:
  • At least 806 people receiving remuneration packages of £150,000 or more a year in 2008-09 across 358 government departments, quangos, public corporations, other public bodies and nationalised industries.
  • Executive pay in the public sector has risen so much that Gordon Brown as Prime Minister is only the 324th best paid person in the public sector.
  • Senior staff at the bailed out banks feature for the first time in the Rich List. The most highly paid person in the public sector this year is Mark Fisher of the Royal Bank of Scotland, whose remuneration was £1,388,000, and there are 30 bankers who appear in the list in total.
  • Adam Crozier of Royal Mail is the highest paid non-bank employee in the public sector, earning £1,309,000.
  • The average total remuneration of the 806 people on the list is almost £225,990 per annum.  This works out at over £4,700 per week. Even without the bankers, the average remuneration package on our list is £209,151.
  • The BBC has at least 53 people on £150,000 or over. Transport for London has 50 members of staff on or above £150,000. In comparison, the Treasury, the main Government department responsible for tackling the recession, has a modest 3 people in the Rich List.
  • There are 8 people in the public sector who earn more than £1 million a year, compared with 4 people last year. There are 35 people in the public sector earning above £500,000 a year compared with 21 last year. There are 120 people earning above £250,000 a year compared with 88 last year.
  • The average pay rise of the people with remuneration for 2007-08 and 2008-09 is 5.4 per cent. This is compared to a pay rise of 2.7 per cent for a nurse and 2.3 per cent for a teacher.
John O’Connell, Policy Analyst at the TaxPayers’ Alliance and author of the new Public Sector Rich List, said:

“Executive pay in the public sector is completely divorced from the reality of Britain’s fiscal crisis. Ordinary families, struggling to make ends meet in the recession, don’t pay their taxes to fund gold-plated deals for public sector fat cats. All parties now agree that excessive pay packages must be tackled but the time for action is now, not next year. Taxpayers want genuine transparency, accountability and restraint in setting top public sector pay.”

The Rich List has received a great reception in the media:
 
The Times: 'Rich list' reveals 80 NHS chiefs paid more than Gordon Brown
The Times: Nigel Edwards: The case for uncapped pay in the NHS
The Times: Oliver Kamm: The case against uncapped pay in the NHS
Daily Express: Fat cats get £1 million a year salaries
Daily Express: Leader: Shocking waste of money
Daily Star: Taxpayers foot £1m fat cat wages
Daily Star: Daily Star Says: How do they get away with it?
The Sun: 800 fat ‘crats earn £150k
The Sun: Sun Says: Debt or glory
Daily Telegraph: 320 public sector workers are paid more than Brown
The Guardian: Gordon Brown trails at 324th in public sector pay league
Guardian.co.uk: Comment is Free: Matthew Sinclair: Top public sector pay needs pruning
Daily Mirror: Let the greedy bankers go: Outrage grows at £1.5bn bonus
Daily Mail: How a staggering 323 public servant fat cats are paid more than the Prime Minister and... yes, you're footing the bill
Metro: 323 public workers are paid more than Gordon Brown
Irish Independent: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Lancashire Telegraph: East Lancs health chief on public sector 'rich list'
Liverpool Daily Post: Rich pickings
Hull Daily Mail: East Yorkshire NHS bosses on rich list
Western Mail: Huge pay rise for £227k Mint boss
New Statesman: 300 public sector workers paid more than the Prime Minister
Southern Daily Echo: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Newcastle Journal: Public sector pay hike
Hendon & Finchley Times: Local health chiefs among public service 'fat cats'
South Wales Argus: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Dorset Echo: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Wilts & Gloucestershire Standard: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Harrow Times: Top public sevrant wage earners revealed
Bloomberg.com: Best-Paid U.K. Public Servants Get 5.4% Pay Raise, Study Says
Channel4.com: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
Thisislocallondon.co.uk: Top public servant wage earners revealed
ePolitix: PM trails in 'public sector rich list'
Inthenews.co.uk: PM is 324th highest-paid in public sector 
Epolitix: PM trails in public sector rich list
Management in Practice: 60 NHS chiefs revealed to earn more than Prime Minister
Wales Online: Huge pay rise for £227k Royal Mint boss Andrew Stafford
thisiswiltshire.co.uk: Public sector bosses net 5.4% rises
24Dash.com: TaxPayers' Alliance publishes public sector 'Rich List'
 
The Great European Rip-Off in Parliament
 
Debate over the cost and impact of the EU is all too rare in Parliament - despite the fact that Brussels is now the source of the majority of our laws. However, we were very pleased yesterday to hear from an eagle-eyed supporter that not only was the harm the EU does to Britain being debated, but one MP was even brandishing a copy of a TPA book on the subject. Bill Cash MP (pictured, right) was proudly displaying his copy of The Great European Rip-Off by Matthew Elliott and David Craig presenting an encouraging bit of evidence that the TPA's research into the cost of the EU is contributing to the crucial debate on the topic.
 
While we're on the subject of the EU, here are two stories from the last few days that further highlight the absurdity of the EU project. First, it turns out that the EU's officials are getting inflation-busting pay rises, too. Second, Blackpool council are currently embarking on a crazy drive to get themselves hugely in debt just to get the right to apply for some of our own money back from Brussels.
 
Non-Job Special: Does anyone want to "study" lap dancers?
 
Our Non-Job features are always particularly popular and this week there is an absolute corker that really deserves its own section in the bulletin. Remarkably, despite the crisis in the public finances and the much heralded shortfall in university budgets, the University of Leeds are advertising for a researcher, on £31,000 salary paid for by you and I, to look into lap dancing. The successful candidate will have to be a valiant individual, up to the task of travelling the length and breadth of the country, talking to every lap dancer they can find, and then producing a report on them. We think it's safe to assume there won't be any shortage of applicants for the role! Read all about it in a blog by Susie Squire here.  
 
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Posted by Britannia Radio at 16:35